Samsung and LG face off with smart fridges that ‘scan your food’ and suggest meals
WE ALL know that frustrating feeling: You get home from work, and find yourself dumbstruck over what to have for dinner. Such gastric agony could soon be a thing of the past with the invention of “smart” fridges that scan your shelves and suggest recipes based on what you’ve got in stock. Two such contraptions […]
WE ALL know that frustrating feeling: You get home from work, and find yourself dumbstruck over what to have for dinner.
Such gastric agony could soon be a thing of the past with the invention of “smart” fridges that scan your shelves and suggest recipes based on what you’ve got in stock.
Two such contraptions will be on display at a major tech conference in Las Vegas next week.
Built by Samsung and LG respectively, the fridges are set to face off at the CES 2020 tech show as punters and journalists alike pick their favourite robo-cooler.
Both are powered by super-smart artificial intelligence and boast an array of funky features.
We’ve got all the details below.
Samsung Family Hub smart fridge
First unveiled in 2016, Samsung has been through several iterations of Family Hub smart fridge.
It features internal cameras that let you scope out what you’ve got in stock from your smartphone – but the latest version makes it a little smarter.
Family Hub now features AI upgrades that allow it to scan your fridge for you and make recommendations for your grocery shopping.
It does this by identifying which ingredients you’re low on.
A separate feature plans your meals for you based on what’s stacked in your fridge.
This has been bolstered by Samsung’s acquisition of Whisk last year. Whisk lets you plan meals for up to a week and then creates a smart shopping list based on the ingredients you’ll need.
One of Family Hub’s big selling points is a huge touch screen slapped on the front of the door.
You can turn it into a bulletin board and even play videos on it through a Samsung TV or phone.
Other features include the ability to see who rang the doorbell, adjust your thermostat, and even check on a sleeping baby in the next room.
Of course, you’ll need to buy a host of other Samsung smart devices to unlock those fancy functions.
There’s also a new Deals app that helps you find great bargains and save them to your virtual Shopping List, or a loyalty card.
Samsung has even built its own Bixby digital assistant into the fridge.
LG InstaView
LG is doubling down on smart fridges by bringing two of them to next week’s CES show.
There’s the AI-powered InstaView ThinQ and the InstaView with Craft Ice, which dispenses two-inch spherical ice balls.
Apparently, the rounded lumps melt slower than traditional ice cubes.
Both LG fridges feature a 22-inch display that can turn transparent to give you a view of what you’ve got in stock without having to yank the door open.
That display doubles up as a touch interface for browsing the internet in search of recipe ideas or to watch instructional cooking clips.
Like Samsung’s smart fridge, the LG gadget uses AI to keep track of what’s in your fridge and suggest recipes based on what’s available.
“Our goal at CES 2020 is to show what’s possible in tomorrow’s kitchens with LG InstaView refrigerators and AI,” LG’s Dan Song said.
“With technology quickly transforming boring white boxes into exciting machines that can create craft ice, plan dinner and create shopping lists, our advanced refrigerators with ThinQ are designed for customers who appreciate any help they can get in the kitchen.”
We’ve no idea how much Samsung or LG’s new machines will cost just yet.
Based on the companies’ previous offerings, customers can expect to pay up to £4,500 for one of the fridges.
We’ll find out more at CES, which begins January 7.
Samsung – a brief history
Here's what you need to know...
- Samsung is a major South Korean company made up of many businesses that operate globally
- It’s known locally as a “chaebol”, which means “business conglomerate”
- It was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company
- But over several decades, it branched out into food processing, insurance, textiles and retail
- It wasn’t until the late 1960s when Samsung entered the electronics industry – for which it’s best known in the west today
- It also launched businesses in construction and shipbuilding in the 1970s
- Today, Samsung’s most important sources of income are its smartphones and computer chips
- The firm accounts for around a fifth of South Korea’s total exports, and roughly 17% of the country’s GDP
- More than 320,000 staff are employed by Samsung globally
- And in 2017, Samsung turned over the equivalent of £174billion today in revenue
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Are you tempted by a smart fridge? Let us know in the comments!
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